Brick Wall Question

Try the “Pennsy Stone” walls from scenic express.  I’ve only ever seen brown/dark colors so I assume the rock is that color.  They’re not bricks, those stones are huge.
I think @john sethian made those from Lego bricks and then did something to the surface.

Very easy to do by scribing/carving pink foam insulation (just use darker paint/ink):

Here's a little something that Harry Henning carved in plaster over foam, it's eight feet long.  Believe it or not, this is a module that we used to take to modular club outings, but it's so heavy and awkward that we finally stopped moving it.

Here's my attempt at modelling those walls.   I live near Boston, and like you see them everywhere.   I purchased the Pennsy Stone Block walls ( the flexible ones), then made my own latex rubber mold so I could make my own out of  Hydrocal.  I needed enough for a section of the layout that is almost 14 feet long.    I primed them with flat gray spray paint, then blotch "stamped" 50/50 diluted craft paints in Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Pewter Gray, than did a final diluted wash of 5 parts water/ to 1 part paint with the Burnt Umber, Raw Umber. 

@BillYo414 posted:

I see these brick walls all over the place where I live:

I have two questions:

1.) What are these walls? Is that the ageing of the rock or filth from industry?

Most likely they are limestone blocks. They're covered with a combination of dirt and mold spores.

I'm assuming a black wash or something might get me a similar effect. Any ideas?

If you use a wash, make it a little thicker in consistency and apply it mainly to the tops of the blocks,  leaving the underside alone.

Very helpful responses everyone. I appreciate it! I don't think I have the patience or steady hand to carve it. I'll always do what it takes to get what I want but the Pennsy Stone walls are pretty good. I think I can work with them.

Thank you so much! And there are some really awesome photos in this thread. Definitely got me inspired to pursue my ideas with more gusto. I was hesitant to add a wall because I didn't know if I could get it to match what I see around town.

Bill,

I think you'll like the effect of the Scenic Express Pennsy stone walls.  That's one of the flexible walls on the left and the tunnel portal in the background.

As to the color of the prototype, I remember visiting the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh as a child in the 60's and then again in the 90's after it had been cleaned.  I thought the dark color was the stone, but it was all that air pollution through 50+ years.  It's really a much lighter shade of gray.

George

Chris - can you explain blotching in detail? I surmise this means using a rag and blotching the individual paints you listed below separately; or did you mix them all together and then blotch? And, is the final diluted wash a combo of Burnt and Raw umbers?

"I primed them with flat gray spray paint, then blotch "stamped" 50/50 diluted craft paints in Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Pewter Gray, than did a final diluted wash of 5 parts water/ to 1 part paint with the Burnt Umber, Raw Umber."

There's both abandoned and still active old viaducts, retaining walls, portals, wing walls, all over countryside where I live. They're awesome structures - many still being used by Amtrak and Septa lines. The PRR built infrastructure to last!

Paul,  its challenging to describe, but here's what I can offer.  I used brush that is about 3/4 inch diameter.  Pretty sure it's sold as a "stamping brush" for doing stencil work.   I typically mix the paint colors in the small plastic "ketchup" cups from the fast food restaurants....    If the blotches get too heavy and opaque, just dip the brush in water and you can thin it out on the wall.

I do my best to work on all the wall sections at one time, and go through with each color putting down each color and give it some time to dry.   If you over stamp with multiple colors on a small  area before each color has time to set up, all you'll do is mix the various colors into a single uniform color, not good.   I am hesitant to go too far with the description,  If you've not done this technique, you can take a piece of pink foam insulation, spray it gray, carve some rough blocks into it and experiment on the test piece.   Here's some photos that I took 3 to 4 years ago as I was doing it.   Unfortunately, I didn't label the photos so I can't relate each photo to exactly where I was at.   As you can see, however, there's quite a bit of "contrast" in the blotched colors before the final washes are applied, and the wash definitely blends everything together.   I would recommend, you go with a "thinner" final wash even 6 to 1 or even 8 to 1 water with a touch of isopropyl alcohol to break the surface tension.  You can always go over it with another wash coat, but you can't really remove it if you go too heavy with the color and blind all the blotchy contrast. 

Two tricks:

1) to obtain different colors for each stone, start with a light primer. Then, get a set of wide-tip magic markers in various colors. Use the markers to color individual stones. Then use a light ink/alcohol wash to soften the colors and darken the whole thing.

2) To get the "old concrete" look that is shown in OP's picture, use pink foam blocks, but lightly dust them with an aggressive spray paint or dullcote. The paint will slightly melt the foam and give it the look of weathered concrete. Don't overdo it.  My favorite paint for old concrete is Rustoleum "Desert Sand Bisque."

I use Precision Board to create my brick walls. They can be painted any color, the grey walls are Rust-oleum texture paint. The bricks are scribed with a sharp pointed awl.